


Countdown to Midnight

by NerdyPanda3126



Series: LBSC Sprint Fics [6]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Endgame Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, F/M, First Kiss, LBSC Sprint Fic Challenge, New Year's Eve, New Year's Kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-30
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:40:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28438530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NerdyPanda3126/pseuds/NerdyPanda3126
Summary: Marinette is late to a New Year's party on the Liberty and can't find Luka.Luka didn't know she would be there, or that she would be looking for him.As the countdown to the New Year winds down, it's a race against time to find each other and start the New Year off right.
Relationships: Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Series: LBSC Sprint Fics [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1978081
Comments: 12
Kudos: 59
Collections: LBSCSprintFicChallenge





	Countdown to Midnight

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the LBSC Sprint Fic Challenge.
> 
> The rules are three 15-minute sprints with 24 hours for light editing, which includes new writing to smooth transitions or make it feel complete. (I only added like 600 words this time! Yay!) 
> 
> Prompt: New Year's party with a New Year's kiss

**—1 Hour to Midnight—**

Marinette bit at her thumbnail and checked her phone yet again as she waited for the increasingly late Métro. A minute hadn’t even passed since she’d checked it last. But every minute counted tonight. She only had an hour to get to the party, find Luka, confess everything to him, and somehow ask him to be her New Year’s kiss. More and more this plan was starting to seem too complicated. How had she let Rose talk her into this? Oh, that’s right, Rose had sighed about how romantic it would be and Marinette couldn’t possibly have argued with that logic.

_M: waiting on metro. might not make it_

She sent the text to Juleka, then resumed biting her nails. 

_J: I’ll wait a bit to tell him_ 😢

Marinette wanted to throw her phone. This was her chance! And because of a stupid late train she was going to miss it. 

**—30 Minutes to Midnight—**

Someone tapped Luka’s shoulder and he turned to find Juleka frowning at him. 

“She’s not going to make it.” Juleka was actually raising her voice to be heard over the music, which was a first. She waved her phone at him to indicate the text she’d gotten. 

His heart dropped to his shoes, but he shrugged as if it didn’t matter. “I didn’t think she would.” 

Juleka gave him that look. She knew he was lying, but wasn’t going to call him out on it. Still. A strange sense of relief washed over him, mixed with a dose of worry. If she wasn’t here, then where was she? But if she wasn’t here, then he wouldn’t have to wonder if he could ask to kiss her at midnight or if she would maybe kiss him or—

He shook his head clear and smiled at Juleka before he tapped his fingers against his empty cup and used it to gesture downstairs. Juleka nodded and as he turned away he let his smile drop. He definitely needed another drink. 

**—20 Minutes to Midnight—**

As Marinette stepped onto the deck of the Liberty, the party was in full swing. How was she even supposed to find Luka in the middle of all of this? 

She found a spot along the wall where she could watch the other partygoers. All of them were swaying to the music pouring out of the Liberty’s speakers, all of them had red cups in their hands, and all of them had already paired up for their midnight kiss. Maybe Luka was out there with someone else? Not that—it was okay if he was because she hadn’t—okay, so maybe she needed to tell him she wanted to kiss him before she got jealous that he might kiss someone else for the first time of the new year. But first she had to find him.

**—15 Minutes to Midnight—**

Luka sighed as he tucked himself into the cockpit. It was the one space that wasn’t crowded by bodies, and the music was fainter here, although the thudding bassline still rattled the glass. It had taken him all of fifteen minutes to struggle down the stairs, get himself another drink from the fridge, and swim back upstream until he ended up here. If he could take a minute and hear himself think, maybe he could convince himself he was actually okay that Marinette was somewhere else. Probably with someone else. 

When Juleka had told him Marinette would be coming and the way she had refused to tell him any more about it had made him think—but it’d been stupid to get his hopes up anyways. He sighed again and tapped his fingers on his cup along to the booming bass from the deck as he slid to the floor and stretched his legs out. Just a minute here and he’d rejoin the crowd. He closed his eyes to recenter himself. Just for a minute. 

**—10 Minutes to Midnight—**

"Have you seen Luka?" Marinette shouted to Juleka over the music. Juleka tapped at her red cup. He'd gone to get a drink? When? And if he wasn't there could she get downstairs and back up before—? 

She tapped at her wrist and Juleka frowned in sympathy before she shrugged. Marinette huffed and pushed her way towards the stairs. 

**—5 Minutes to Midnight—**

Luka's eyes snapped open when his phone chimed in his pocket. He'd drifted off for a minute or two there. He rubbed his eyes before he checked his phone. Five minutes to go, then. The text was from Juleka. As he read the preview on his screen, his heart started thudding in his ears. 

_J: Marinette’s looking for you_ 😘 

Juleka didn’t send kiss emojis to him. Which meant she was implying that— 

He started to his feet and tore out of the cockpit. He had to find Marinette. He checked his phone again. Four minutes to go. 

**—2 Minutes to Midnight—**

Marinette was frantic. No Luka downstairs. No Luka on deck. No Luka anywhere to be found and with two minutes to go. She thought she'd have enough time. She thought she'd be able to make it. 

She shoved her way back upstairs, hoping that maybe she'd just missed him in the crowd.

And as she reached the top of the stairs, there he was. Although he was facing the other way, his phone clutched in his hand, and he seemed to be searching for someone. 

He ran a hand through his hair and pulled up his phone, typed up a text, and he looked up again when he sent it. Marinette clutched her own phone. When it buzzed not a second later she almost dropped it. But a quick glance at her screen showed her it was from Luka and a smile stretched across her face. Luka was looking for her, too. 

**—1 Minute to Midnight—**

Luka spun in place. He’d texted Marinette to try to figure out where on this houseboat she was, but he wasn’t expecting an answer in the next sixty seconds. _So what?_ He tried to reason with himself. Marinette wanted to kiss him. Wasn’t that enough? Why did there have to be a deadline on it? 

But then his eyes caught on hers. She’d been downstairs, maybe retracing his steps from earlier. She was holding her phone up, smiling, and she waved as a perfect pink blush bloomed across her cheeks. He was drawn to her as if pulled by a magnet—irreversibly and inevitably. She pulled herself up the last few steps and stood in front of him. 

“Hi,” she mouthed. 

“Hi.” He knew he was grinning, although he couldn’t seem to stop. 

“30 seconds!” Someone said over the microphone. “Better find someone to lock lips with because it’s almost time for the count!” The crowd whooped collectively, but Luka’s eyes hadn’t left Marinette’s. 

He raised his eyebrows in a simple, silent question. Her blush darkened as she nodded to answer him and took a step closer. 

As the countdown from ten began, his hands fell to her waist and her breath hitched as he pulled her a step closer to him. 

**5 —** Marinette pushed up on her toes to wrap her arms around his neck. 

**4 —** He leaned his forehead against hers, and she wasn’t sure if it was the music pounding in her ears or her heartbeat. He was so close.

 **3 —** Her warm breath fanned across his lips and his eyes fluttered closed. 

**2 —** She slid a hand into his hair at the nape of his neck to ground herself in this moment, here, with him. 

**1 —** One of them moved, impossible to tell which of them, and their lips brushed against each other, featherlight, before they fell together. 

**Happy New Year!**

There were little pops all around and Marinette could feel confetti raining down on them from the tiny champagne bottle fireworks she’d seen everywhere tonight. Luka lifted her against him, supporting her with an arm around her back and even though she knew the cheers around her were for the New Year, she felt like cheering, too. She smiled into their kiss and dug her fingers into his hair, committing every second to memory. 

He lowered her back down, still refusing to let go of her lips until her toes touched the planks of the Liberty. 

“Happy New Year, Marinette,” he said in her ear before he pulled away. 

When she opened her eyes again, she giggled and brushed some of the confetti out of his hair. “Happy New Year, Luka. I think it’ll be a good one.” 


End file.
